


Firm as Steel

by astrospecial



Series: ALL M/M Student Pairings [5]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Blood Drinking, Horror Elements, M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Time Skip, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-12
Updated: 2019-12-12
Packaged: 2021-02-26 00:55:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21764890
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrospecial/pseuds/astrospecial
Summary: Dimitri finds Claude weak from blood-withdrawal and helps him out.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Claude von Riegan
Series: ALL M/M Student Pairings [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1516451
Comments: 20
Kudos: 106





	Firm as Steel

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya!
> 
> This is a part of a series where I'll be writing a fic for each M/M student pairing in FE3H (no Byleth, no Cyril, etc). There will be 78 fics in total.
> 
> This is fic 5/78!
> 
> EDIT 3/25/20: This is now a part of a larger vampire AU and is included in the series "how sweet and dear the morning can be"!

They said it prowled the halls at night, stealing away those who wandered out of bed. The rumors whispered that it had teeth like knives, pale skin the color of ash, and dark red eyes. It was called a  _ vampire, _ and it feasted on human blood and loathed the sunlight. And this monster was a student currently attending the academy.

What was Dimitri to do besides not believe such ridiculous stories?

Even when Sylvain, half-joking, half-serious, had shown him a book detailing a hunt of such a vampire. Even when Professor took the book away, frowning. Even when, before one of Dimitri’s usual nighttime walks, Ashe peaked his head outside his door and begged him not to go.

There were real demons in the world. Why did people have to scare themselves with fake ones? But as the night grew darker and the moonlight shone brighter above the forest outside the Monastery, Dimitri’s hand grew cold around the hilt of his dagger. The animal sounds of the night, crickets and the crunch of paws, took on a menacing edge. Overhead, the shadows of bats swooped toward unseen bugs.

As he walked deeper into the forest, a very human-like groan cut through the sound. Hunched next to a tree was a cloak-covered figure. Dimitri strained his eyes, but he could see nothing more of the shivering person. He took out his dagger, and despite his better judgment, called out to them.

“Are you alright?”

“Dimitri?”

Dimitri could recognize Claude’s smooth voice anywhere, even when rugged with pain. Had he been attacked? He rushed to him, skidding to a crouch in the soft summer dirt. 

“Claude! Tell me what happened.” He placed his hand on Claude’s shoulder, painfully aware of how he shuddered beneath his touch. The air was thick with the smell of upturned earth and blood. “Are there bandits?”

A whimper escaped him, and he shrunk toward the tree. “Leave, Dimitri.”

Were the bandits still in the area? Either way, he couldn’t leave a wounded classmate behind. “You’re hurt—“

“I said leave!”

Dimitri had lifted his hand, had lifted his  _ dagger _ when Claude spun around with more strength than a wounded man should possess. His hands shot out and clenched Dimitri’s wrists, unnatural power making Dimitri’s breath come and go in sharp gasps. Through the pain shooting across his arms, he noticed the soft thud of his dagger hitting the ground.

Dimitri’s head hit the dirt next. Claude was on top of him, and even though Dimitri used all the energy he had in his body, he couldn’t force him off. His fingers clawed uselessly above his head, and the jack-hammer of his blood drowned all thoughts except one:

Vampire _. _

There was hot breath on his neck. Everything in Dimitri stilled: his fingers, his legs, and for an impossible second, his heart. In that second he collected his thoughts. He couldn’t fight Claude, not when he was this strong. But he couldn’t be too far gone for reason, could he? Claude’s breath hitched against his neck when he swallowed.

“Claude,” he started, voice wavering. “Let go of me.”

His voice was ragged. “I don’t think I can.”

Maybe it was something else. Maybe a traitorous mage had cast a spell on him, was the reason why he was acting so bizarre. Then there was the feeling of Claude’s teeth on his skin, pointed and chill, and there was no other explanation. 

Dimitri forced himself to speak, even though each flex of his throat pressed the pinpoints down farther. “Is it blood you need?” 

“Yes.”

“Then take some of mine. From my wrist.”

“You’d let a—“

“I’d let  _ you _ .” His voice was calmer than he felt. Deliriously he wondered if Claude could feel his heart pounding. “Will it help you control yourself?”

“I’m so hungry, Dimitri, I could die.”

“Drink, Claude. We’ll discuss it later.”

Faster than he expected, the pinpoints were on his wrist and pressing into the veins there. He gasped in surprise, body trying uselessly to jerk away from the pain. It wasn’t as painful as being hit by an arrow, or a sword cutting his flesh, but it was foreign enough, like freezing sewing needles, that the baser part of his mind was screaming at him to shove Claude away. Against the cold of Claude’s fangs was the warmth of his own blood and the heat of Claude’s tongue lapping it before it hit the dirt. 

How much blood had he lost, and how much had Claude drank? He brought his free hand up to Claude’s head and pushed gently. “Enough.”

Claude sighed against his skin. Even worse was the feeling of the fangs retracting, the heat of his blood almost burning without the sensation of his frozen fangs. He pressed his nightshirt to his wrist with a wince.

“Let me.” Claude ripped off a piece of his cloak and wrapped it around his wrist. His voice was softer than Dimitri had ever heard it. “Thanks, Dimitri.”

_ He sounds sated _ , Dimitri’s mind supplied unhelpfully, fully aware of what obscene image that would conjure in him. At least it was too dark to see his burning face.

“That’s what classmates are for.” Dimitri sat up and brushed the dirt from his back. It was odd hearing Claude sound so sincere, and now that the pressure was on Dimitri to reply, he changed the subject. “Can I have an explanation?”

In the moonlight, Dimitri could see that his chest did not fall and rise with breath, that the skin around his bloodstained lips was still an unnatural pallor. 

“I’m a vampire.  _ The  _ vampire. As for why I’m out here...I don’t like to feed on humans when I could find an animal.”

Dimitri’s wrist throbbed. “Do you always get so…”

“Feral? Demonic?” He sighed. “Teach’s usually the one to feed me, but she’s been so busy with your class lately.”

He had wondered why he would see her entering her room as Dimitri returned to his after his walks. Was that why another professor always gave a seminar the next day? A wave of some emotion passed through Dimitri, and suddenly he felt exhausted. Through a yawn, he asked, “Were you born like this?”

“Come on. You need to rest.”

Claude helped him to his feet, and the walk back to the Monastery was quiet. Before Dimitri fell into a blissed state of half-awareness, he heard Claude’s whisper as if it were coming from the heavens:

“Since I came to Fódlan.”

“You can drink my blood anytime you need,” Dimitri replied, voice heavy with sleep. His head was on Claude’s shoulder, Claude’s arm wrapped around his waist. If he was slightly more conscious, he would have been embarrassed. “Anytime you want.”

  
The next morning, Dimitri had awoken and thought it was a peculiar dream. The next evening, when Claude knocked on his door and reopened the wound on his wrist, he had no choice but to believe  _ some  _ of the rumors. 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from this passage from Dracula: “I grasped his hand instinctively and found it as firm as a piece of steel. I think he understood my look. I hope he did.” 
> 
> Dracula is one of my absolute favorite pieces of literature ever. I read it when I was going through bit of a tough time, and so it’ll always be special to me for that reason, but it’s also so damn gay...Anyway, I could write a whole essay on Dracula's queerness but I'll end it here: read Dracula because it’s fantastic! Or at the very least read Stoker’s letters to Walt Whitman because they’re great too.
> 
> Thanks for reading!! Lemme know if there are any errors because I was so tired as I edited this. 
> 
> I also might write vampire smut for this pairing later because I don't have self-control lol
> 
> -
> 
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> 
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